Text Messaging and Distracted Driving: Ban Before South Carolina Senate

April 05, 2012 (Press-News.org) The risks of distracted driving to South Carolina motorists, passengers, pedestrians and bicyclists are well understood. When drivers focus their attention on something other than the road ahead, the chances of a truck, motorcycle or car accident increase substantially.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 3,000 people died in 2010 in motor vehicle crashes caused by distracted driving. Studies funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have shown that drivers are 30 percent more likely to be involved in a car wreck if they are using a phone.

While the major highway safety challenge to the previous generation was reducing car accidents caused by drunk drivers, laws intended to reduce texting and cell phone accidents have received increasing national attention in the past decade.

South Carolina has so far trailed the national trend in handheld cell phone and texting bans, and its state laws only contain an incidental mention of distracted and inattentive driving as a contributing factor in defining traffic violations. Both neighboring states, North Carolina and Georgia, have passed a texting ban for all drivers and a ban on all cell phone use, including hands-free devices, for bus drivers and newly licensed drivers.

South Carolina House Passes Driver Text Messaging Ban

While several text messaging bills have languished in Columbia in recent years, the House has again passed a measure that bans texting by all drivers. The bill prevailed by a considerable margin on a 93 to 15 roll-call vote.

The bill bans use of electronic devices "to compose, send, or read an electronic message while operating a motor vehicle on a roadway." In addition to text messages, the ban includes e-mail messages, instant messages and Web surfing.

The ban does not apply to hands-free or voice-activated communications, and there are exceptions for summoning emergency assistance and use by law enforcement and other public safety officials. Subject to changes in the Senate version, the text messaging ban allows fines of up to $150.

According to the South Carolina Municipal Association, five cities have passed local texting bans, including Camden, Clemson, Columbia, Sumter and West Union. Passage of the ban by the Senate and the Governor's signature would extend this key distracted driving disincentive to Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Greenville, Spartanburg and statewide.

Car Accident Attorneys Work to Identify All Types of Driver Negligence

Banning text messaging to reduce distracted driving accidents would be a good start, but one frequently cited study from the University of Utah found that talking on a cell phone while driving presents the equivalent risk of drunk driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08. Whether or not this behavior is made illegal, it is clear evidence of negligence when it leads to a car, truck or motorcycle accident.

The same is true for activities such as applying makeup, programming a GPS device, eating or talking to passengers. Strong bans with real consequences affect behavior, but society can never prohibit all specific examples of unsafe behavior behind the wheel. Where criminal liability does not apply, a civil lawsuit can hold the negligent driver accountable.

A South Carolina car accident lawyer with broad experience in personal injury litigation knows how to use evidence of distracted driving to help clients pursue sufficient compensation for the harm they suffered. When a driver, passenger or pedestrian suffers a brain injury, paralysis or a wrongful death due to a motorist's lapse of attention, the consequences can devastate a family's future.

Article provided by Pierce, Herns, Sloan & McLeod, LLC
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